When Shelly Sterling was approached by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer about buying the Los Angeles Clippers, the wife of disgraced team owner Donald Sterling did not know who he was. But in short order, she persuaded him the team was worth an unprecedented $2 billion.

In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Shelly Sterling offered details about how she negotiated one of the richest deals in sports after her husband’s racist comments to a girlfriend became public and prompted the NBA to ban him for life and decree he give up the team. At that point, Shelly Sterling stepped in.

“I was given the task, and I did it,” she said Thursday. “I just did what I had to do.”

She signed up well-known litigator Pierce O’Donnell. He asked how much she wanted for the team, and she handed him a piece of paper on which was written, “$1.5 to $2 (billion),” shocking figures for a franchise that until recently was a perpetual loser.

Prospective buyers started lining up. She got an offer of $1.65 billion from David Geffen, and she said an Egyptian princess was entering the bidding war.

Ballmer called her at 7 a.m. on a Saturday.

“He was really enthusiastic,” she recalled. “He said I want to come see you immediately.”

She put him off until the next day and quickly called a girlfriend to find out who he was.

“He was a like a little child. He was so excited, so happy,” she said of their meeting. “We sort of connected. I felt he would be good for the team.”

She said he asked her how much others had offered and then bid $1.9 billion. Though that was far more than most believed the team was worth, Shelly Sterling wasn’t satisfied.

“I told him, ‘You won’t have to build an arena or a practice field.’ So he was getting a bargain. And I told him, ‘We have great players, a great coach, and you’ll never have the chance to buy a team in Los Angeles again.”

After her speech, she recalled, “He said, ‘OK, I’ll give you 2.’ He really, really wanted the team.”

She said she extracted a promise that he would never move the team to Seattle, his hometown. The deal closed after a bitter probate fight with her husband.

Ballmer gave Shelly Sterling the title “owner emeritus” and said she would have floor tickets for all games.

In a wide-ranging interview just days before her 80th birthday, the elegant, blond wife of the beleaguered real-estate mogul exuded the energy and enthusiasm of a much younger woman. For a half-century she had worked in Donald’s shadow, renovating and decorating their properties while he built their business empire.

“I never liked the spotlight. I didn’t like to get up and speak,” she said. “But you don’t know your potential until you’re thrown into something.”

She was thrown into the center of a publicity maelstrom with the release of explosive audiotapes of her husband denouncing his young girlfriend for bringing black men, including former Los Angeles Lakers star Magic Johnson, to Clippers games.

She declined to discuss details of her legal battle with V. Stiviano, the woman who released the tapes.

“I think it was very unfortunate that she would have done what she did,” Sterling said, adding, “She ruined our lives for our whole family.”

Once Ballmer’s offer was accepted the drama moved to probate court. Sterling had removed her husband from the family trust, saying he was suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Doctors testified, but he insisted he was in full control of his faculties. When she tried to approach him in court, he growled, “Get away from me, you pig.”

It was a painful moment in a 59-year marriage, and she said he has since apologized. She blames his illness.

The marriage has had rough patches, she said, and they have been estranged since the death of their diabetic son from a drug overdose last year.

She remembered their high school romance, when “he crashed my 16th birthday party,” and the years they spent building a real-estate empire with 160 apartment buildings in Los Angeles.

Asked if she knew her husband was unfaithful to her over the years, she said, “I can’t say if I was blind to it or I didn’t know to ask. I was raising my three kids, and I was very involved in taking care of the buildings … There were always excuses that he was working with one girl or another. Maybe I didn’t want to realize it.”

She considered divorcing Donald but was told by lawyers it was of no benefit.

“What’s the point at our age?” she said. “I still feel sorry for him. I think he’s going to make it right, and he’ll be OK.”

These days, “We’re on better terms,” she said. “We try not to talk about the case. We have a business together so we have to talk.”

Asked about Donald’s mental condition, she said, “He’s been a little better, a little sweeter and softer. Losing the team he loved was very hard on him. But I’ll always feel it’s our team.”

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.